Incentive programs, an excellent talent pool, and that famous Canadian hospitality has MMO developer Funcom setting up a new development house in Montreal.
Funcom's new Canadian headquarters will be put to use immediately, with skilled teams being formed to work on both Age of Conan and the upcoming MMO The Secret World, which the company will be showing off at PAX 09 this weekend. The Montreal location further extends Funcom's global presence, joining previously established offices in Norway, China, the U.S., and Switzerland.
Funcom CEO Trond Arne Aas sings the praises of our neighbors to the North.
"Montréal has established itself as one of the world's most important locations for video game production, and we are looking forward to taking part in that success. In addition to strengthening our North American presence, the new studio will take advantage of the great incentive programs offered by the Québec region, incentives that makes Montréal one of the most cost effective locations in the world for developing MMO games. This will in turn allow us to better balance our costs, making it possible for us to continue to expand our investments into the MMO segment."
We may kid our Canadian brethren from time to time, but one thing's for sure: they sure know how to woo game developers.